


Justification

by Jcapasso916



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-30
Updated: 2015-12-30
Packaged: 2018-05-10 11:26:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5584030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jcapasso916/pseuds/Jcapasso916
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the Winchesters run across an archangel they had though dead tempers flare and recriminations fly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Justification

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not particularly happy with this story, but I got tired of trying to fix it so here you go. Hopefully my next one will be a little better.

Sam was sitting in the bunker looking for a new case on his laptop when he found something that made him nearly drop his beer. A newspaper article about three college kids who were found hanging by their ankles from the university’s clock tower. Not really anything too strange about that except for the fact that all three swore that they had been in a restaurant on the other side of campus once minute and hanging from the clock tower the next. The police were baffled when surveillance camera’s confirmed their story. 

He looked a little further back in the news for that town and found an article from a few days before where a middle-aged heiress claimed that all of her furs came to life and attacked her. She was seen at the hospital for multiple bites and scratches all over her arms and torso. If Sam didn’t know any better he would swear that it was Gabriel, but Gabriel was dead. Had been for more than ten years and Sam hated thinking about that. 

There had been many people that died helping them over the years, but Gabriel’s death hurt the worst. Some of them had been demons and, while useful at the time, Sam just couldn’t manage to shed any tears over their demise. Most had been humans and while it hurt he could tell himself that they were going to die anyway, eventually, but Gabriel…Gabriel was immortal. He was around before time began and should have been around after it ended. But he wasn’t. And it was Sam’s fault. He was responsible for the death of the only decent archangel, using the word decent loosely. 

He really didn’t like this reminder of Gabriel, but he knew he would have to check it out. It was probably just a generic trickster, like Gabriel had been posing as, but either way he and Dean had more experience with tricksters than any other hunters out there so the next morning they were on the road. 

It was a long drive to Colorado where the incidents had taken place and the brothers wasted no time getting a motel room and passing out. They were very surprised the next day when the visited the country club that the college kids and the socialite frequented only to come face to face with none other than Gabriel at the front desk. The archangel looked torn between fleeing and accepting the fact that he was found for a moment before he sighed in defeat. “Well look what the cat dragged in.”

“Gabriel!?...How…” Sam couldn’t find the words.

“Am I alive? Yeah dear old dad brought me back. I guess I got my membership to the resurrected by the deadbeat dad club,” he said bitterly. 

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Sam asked despondently. 

“Why would I? So I can get abused some more until you yahoos find another bus to throw me under?” Gabriel sniped at them. He definitely wasn’t going to tell them the rest of the reason about how he couldn’t bear to see Sam look at him with hatred and revulsion and disappointment and any of the other things he felt when Gabriel was around. 

“Us abuse you? You’re kidding me right?” Dean scoffed. 

“Hang on Dean. It won’t hurt anything to hear him out. We owe him that much,” Sam said looking at Gabriel.

Dean rolled his eyes. “Fine. Enlighten us oh abused one,” he said mockingly. 

“Why should I bother when you two never listen,” Gabriel snapped.

“Please Gabriel. I’m listening,” Sam implored him.

Gabriel sighed. He never could say no to Sam when he turned those puppy eyes on him. “Fine. Let’s start with the first time we met shall we? I hadn’t done anything more to you than annoying pranks, but you two tried to kill me.”

“You were killing people,” Sam defended.

“And you never bothered to find out why. I tried to tell you but you wouldn’t listen. You didn’t care.”

Sam knew the archangel had a point. They were very rigid in their views back then, but after so many years of making deals with demons and going with the lesser of two evils they had expanded their view. “You’re right. We should have listened. Even if we disagreed with you we should have at least listened. We were young and naïve and the world was still black and white,” Sam explained. 

That took Gabriel aback. He wasn’t expecting to be treated so reasonably. So he just nodded and continued on, but with slightly less bite to his words. “Next time we met I guess we can call even,” Gabriel said obligingly.

“Even!? You killed me a hundred times!” Dean exclaimed.

“And yet here you are alive,” Gabriel sneered. “I never intended to leave you dead. I just needed Sam to learn to let go of you so he wouldn’t go hunting down Lilith and jump start the apocalypse. But you just wouldn’t listen,” Gabriel said turning to Sam. Sam hung his head. He could see Gabriel’s point, and he was right that no harm was done in the long run by Gabriel, but by not listening Sam killed many people including Gabriel, so he thought the archangel was being pretty generous by calling it even. When it was clear that no one had anything to say to that he continued, “Then we come to the worst of it. The holy fire and interrogation that followed,” he said bitterly. 

“You had us trapped. What else could we have done?” Sam asked evenly. 

“If you had just made me let you go and then let me go I might buy that, but you kept me there while you wrung every detail you wanted out of me, and then left me before the fire was even completely out. Do you have any idea what holy fire does to an angel?” he asked sarcastically. 

Gabriel was surprised to hear Sam say confused, “It just traps you there.”

“You mean Cassie gave you the low down on how to use it without telling you what it actually does? I didn’t think even he was that thoughtless. Why don’t you ask him next time you see him? Maybe then you’ll understand.” 

“Why can’t you just tell us?” Dean snapped. 

“Because I don’t want to and I shouldn’t have to,” Gabriel said firmly. Just thinking about the fear and helplessness was bad enough without having to talk about it.

“What about everything you did to us in tv land? You’re just going to forget all that? I got shot. Sam got hit in the nuts with a bowling ball and got genital herpes!” Dean said.

“And yet, like with the mystery spot you’re both fine. You had no ill effects beyond the momentary pain. I made sure of that. You were shot in the spine. You should have ended up paralyzed at best. That bowling ball Sam, should have at least broken your pelvis and left you with severe permanent damage to your goods but it didn’t. And obviously you don’t have herpes any more either, so what did I do that was so bad? What did I do that made me deserve to be tortured?”

“And still even with all that, I walked into that hotel and tried to get you out, but that wasn’t good enough for you was it? You wanted me to sacrifice my life too. Well you got your wish. I died. You were free. I helped you stop the apocalypse. Do you blame me for not wanting to get dragged into your messes again?” 

Sam spoke before Dean could say anything. “No. I don’t blame you. I just wish you had let us know you were alive at least. Even if you weren’t going to help us.”

Gabriel looked at Sam curiously. “Why? What purpose would that have served other than having you two call me every time you got in over your heads?”

“It would have saved me a lot of grief over getting you killed at least,” Sam said softly. 

Gabriel narrowed his eyes in suspicion at the hunter. Last he knew they didn’t like him and only barely tolerated him. “Well now you know,” he said in a clipped tone. “Anything else you need from me?” he asked dismissively. 

“Yeah actually. The reason we’re here. The people you’re hurting,” Dean said glad to finally be on firm footing. 

“You still don’t trust that I know what I’m doing?” Gabriel asked incredulously. 

Sam cut in again. “Maybe you could explain it to us?” he asked hopefully.

“The horrible woman had her precious furs treat her the way she treated other people, and the kids in the clock tower had their own nasty pranks visited back on them. No one was harmed beyond superficially so it’s none of your concern.”

“Good enough but when you do kill people…” Sam left the sentence hanging hoping that Gabriel would pick it up.

“They are people that kill or permanently damage other people intentionally,” Gabriel said firmly. “Now are we done?” Gabriel asked impatiently. 

Sam could tell that the archangel was getting pissed and they wouldn’t get any more out of him so nodded and said, “Come on Dean. Let’s go home.” Then he turned to Gabriel and said, “Thank you Gabriel,” as they walked out the door. 

 

Once they were back in the car on their way back to Kansas, Dean turned to Sam and asked, “What the hell was that about?”

“The guy died for us Dean. Willingly sacrificed his own life to give us a chance to escape and end things. You think we should’ve staked him for old time’s sake?” Sam asked derisively. 

“No. Of course not, but did you have to so nice and reasonable? No matter his reasons he still put us through hell,” Dean said petulantly. 

“Maybe he did, but it’s not like we have to deal with him anymore. You heard him. He wants nothing to do with us,” Sam said sadly. “And we need to talk to Cas and find out just what holy fire does to angels.”

Dean and Cas had been a couple for going on a year now. Thankfully for Sam who had been getting beyond fed up with their sexual tension. Cas was pretty busy running heaven most of the time though so he wasn’t around much. Dean took the hint though and called Cas to stop by when he had a moment. 

They were almost back to the bunker when Cas appeared in the backseat. After greeting him, Sam wasted no time in asking what he wanted to know. “What does trapping an angel in holy oil do other than trap them?”

“It locks away their grace so they don’t have access to their powers,” Cas said matter-of-factly.

“Is that painful?” Sam asked. He didn’t miss Gabriel’s remark about torture and wanted to make sure they got all the facts.

“Moderately painful physically. The real difficulty comes from the feeling of helplessness and fear that it creates. It would be the equivalent of you suddenly being blind, deaf, and paralyzed. One wrong move into the holy fire would be an excruciating death for any angel, so that just adds to the fear aspect.” It wasn’t something that Cas had put much thought into until his own unfortunate encounter with holy fire back when he had been deluded enough to work with Crowley and then he hadn’t told them because he didn’t want them to feel badly about it. If they were asking though then they must feel the need to know and he wouldn’t deny them anything. 

“And for an archangel? Would it be different?” Sam asked feeling a little sick already. 

“It would be worse for an archangel as more power would be locked away increasing both the physical pain and the mental trauma. Why do you ask?” Cas was confused now. As far as he knew all the archangels were either dead or in the cage and if they were considering opening the cage for any reason then he needed to know about it so he could convince them otherwise. 

“We ran into Gabriel, who was apparently resurrected as well. He was a little bitter about the holy fire and told us to ask you what it really does,” Dean said seeing that Sam was beyond words. Dean wouldn’t admit it but he was feeling a little green himself. 

“Gabriel is alive? This is wonderful news.” Cas said happily. 

“He doesn’t want anything to do with any of us Cas,” Sam said sadly. “And I don’t blame him,” he finished closing his eyes against the onslaught of emotion. 

“I’m not saying that I don’t feel for the guy and if we had known then maybe we would have done things differently, but don’t you think you’re taking it a bit hard?” Dean asked.

“No Dean. I don’t,” Sam said leveling one of his infamous bitchfaces at his brother. “Think about what Cas said about being blind deaf and paralyzed knowing that one wrong move will kill you slowly and painfully, then throw in a couple of people who are now much stronger than you that you know want you dead and have tried to kill you before. Then think about how Gabriel must have felt. And remember too that he still walked into that hotel and died for us. So no I’m not over-reacting.”

“He went in there to save Kali. Not us. Don’t forget that,” Dean pointed out trying to assuage his own conscience. 

“Oh come on Dean. Even you’re not that dense. He had no reason to be there in the first place other than to get us out, and only went to see Kali because he needed to get our blood. And then when Lucifer attacked and he came in, where did he go? To Kali laying on the floor injured or to us? He only saved her after he got us what we needed and then told us to protect her so that we wouldn’t try to get involved in the fight, and if you weren’t completely blind where Gabriel is concerned you would have figured that out too,” Sam snapped at his brother. 

“I apologize. I must go,” Cas said from the backseat as he disappeared. 

Once they got back to the bunker a few minutes later, Dean did as he always did when coping with guilt and disappeared into his room with a bottle of whiskey. Sam knew that he wouldn’t see him again that night. Sam followed his lead without the whiskey and went to his own room and prayed. “Gabriel. I would really like to talk to you if you have a moment. I don’t need any help or favors. I just want to talk. Please.”

 

Gabriel received the prayer as he was getting ready to leave the town. He was undecided about whether or not to go though. Who was he kidding? He knew he would never deny Sam something as simple as a conversation. So help him if this was a trick though…

Gabriel appeared leaning against the wall in front of Sam. “What?” 

“I asked Cas about the holy oil, and thought about everything you said and I just needed to say that I’m sorry. I know you don’t want anything to do with us and I’ll accept that, but I just had to tell you that, and if do ever find a way to forgive me then I would love to see you from time to time.”

“To see me for what?” Gabriel asked suspiciously.

“Just to hang out. Catch up. Talk. Have fun. Whatever,” Sam said with a shrug. 

“So you’re saying you want to be friends?” Gabriel asked derisively. 

“Yeah. I guess so. But I’ll leave you alone if you want.”

Gabriel felt like he was being pulled in conflicting directions. His sense of self-preservation was telling him to walk away and never look back, but walking away from Sam was easier said than done. It was one thing to stay away thinking Sam didn’t want him around, but now that Sam knew he was alive and wanted him around it was a different story. “I’ll think about it,” Gabriel said as he disappeared. It wasn’t a matter of forgiving Sam. He forgave the hunter a long time ago, but jumping back into the fray? That required some thought no matter how much a part of him just wanted to be with Sam. 

 

Sam decided that the first step to being Gabriel’s friend should be learning to understand him, and since the archangel wasn’t around right now to talk to he would do what he did best. Research. Dean thought he was nuts for trying to make nice with the trickster archangel, but Sam knew that even if Gabriel did have other friends, they wouldn’t know who or what he really was so he couldn’t truly relax and be himself around them and Gabriel deserved at least one friend that he could do that with. 

Sam started his research in the town that they had just found Gabriel in. Usually when they scanned the news it was looking for bad things. They rarely paid attention to anything else. So after looking up everything he could find on the victims of Gabriel’s pranks he started looking for anything he could find on their victims. The information was a little less obvious because much of it wasn’t exactly newsworthy, but he did find a quote in the article about the ferocious furs from a gardener that was recently fired so he looked him up and found something that made his jaw drop. He read the article twice to be sure. 

It turned out that the gardener’s wife was the maid and was five months pregnant. Mrs Halston wouldn’t give her any time off and worked her just as hard as she always did before she got pregnant and when she collapsed in the kitchen the husband left to take her to the hospital and she fired them both. The part that Sam found amazing was that when she arrived at the hospital she was hemorrhaging badly and the doctors had ‘mistakenly’ diagnosed placental tearing and thought they were going to lose them both, but suddenly she stopped bleeding and both her and the baby were perfectly fine. They were calling it a miracle. And to top things off, the husband, thinking it was his lucky day, bought a scratch ticket and won a hundred thousand dollars. Sam found himself wondering how many of Gabriel’s victim’s victims had been taken care of and started looking more closely. 

A serial killer’s will had been ‘lost’ and he had no dependents so the large estate was split among his victims. A child molester’s victims had all lost their memory of the incidents in question, but no one was complaining since he was dead and the children were spared the trauma. A bunch of girls molested by their college professor got a free semester of college from the school when the professor was fired and arrested after running into the police station and confessing everything while wailing about the giants trying to kill him. Some of the pieces were pretty difficult to put together, and he was sure there was a lot he was missing, but he had enough to see that Gabriel really was just trying to do good in the world. 

 

Sam was sitting in the library about a week later looking up lore on manticores. Seems that a few hunters had run across one and were at a total loss of how to kill it. Suddenly he was no longer in the library but falling on his ass in sand. He looked up to see a beautiful beach and a grinning Gabriel. “Gabriel! A little warning please?” Sam scolded him.

“Hey if you wanna be friends and all you better get used to surprises,” Gabriel said impishly. 

Sam rolled his eyes indulgently, “Sure ok, but I was kinda in the middle of something important so if you could send me back to finish up first that would be great.”

“What’s so important?” Gabriel asked curiously. 

“Apparently manticores are no longer extinct and there’s one wreaking havoc and a couple hunters who have no idea how to kill it,” Sam explained. 

“So you just need to find what kills maticores?” Gabriel clarified. Sam nodded. “Silver knife coated with scorpion venom to knock it out then cut off its stinger to kill it,” he said with a shrug. 

Sam thought for a minute. “Would silver bullets with scorpion venom work?”

“Not sure. Probably not though. I doubt you could get enough on a bullet to do any good.”

“Thanks Gabriel. I appreciate it. Will my phone work here?” Sam asked. 

Gabriel snapped his fingers. “Now it will.”

Sam proceeded to call the hunters that were hunting it and relaying the news before calling Dean to let him know that he was with Gabriel and didn’t know when he’d be back. “Had to check in with Daddy?” Gabriel teased.

“Hey in our business disappearing with no word generally means being kidnapped,” Sam pointed out. 

“But you have been kidnapped,” Gabriel shot back.

Sam chuckled. “True. But something tells me that even if Dean mounted a search party he’d never find us.”

“Might be fun to watch him try though,” Gabriel grinned. “Oh that’s a good idea. Hide and seek.”

“Yeah, no. I think we all know who’d win that one,” Sam said. 

“That’s what makes it so fun!” Gabriel protested. 

“For you maybe.”

“Exactly,” Gabriel said smugly. 

Sam smirked at the archangel. “Tell you what then. You go hide and I might get around to finding you eventually.”

Gabriel laughed before saying, “What say we go for a swim?”

“I’m not exactly dressed for swimming,” Sam said gesturing to his jeans and plaid overshirt. 

Gabriel smirked and snapped his fingers. “Now you are.”

Sam’s hands immediately went to cover himself. “Not a speedo!” Gabriel rolled his eyes and snapped again and Sam was in a modest pair of black swim trunks and Sam uncovered. “Much better.”

Gabriel snapped his fingers replacing his usual wear with tight gold spandex shorts. He usually swam unencumbered by clothing, but he figured that would probably make Sam uncomfortable so at least he could wear something that didn’t restrict him too much. 

Sam noticed the black scars across his chest and stomach and was considering asking about them, but then Gabriel said, “Race you Samsquatch,” already running for the water and revealing matching scars on his back. 

“Cheater!” Sam called after him as he ran to catch up. When Sam passed Gabriel just before they hit the water a piece of seaweed wrapped around Sam’s ankle tripping him and Gabriel rushed past laughing. He was about knee deep in the water before he got tackled as Sam righted himself and caught up. 

They both surfaced grinning. “I won!” Gabriel announced proudly. 

“Yeah because you cheated,” Sam shot back at him. 

“Not my fault you’re clumsy.”

“It is when you make the seaweed trip me.”

Gabriel put his hand to his chest in mock horror. “Would I do a thing like that?”

“Yes,” Sam replied not missing a beat. 

Gabriel’s eyes sparked with mischief. “Prove it,” he challenged before he dove into the water and began swimming away. 

Sam swam after him, catching up enough to grab his ankle. Gabriel laughed and dove underneath the water and Sam let go so as not to be dragged with him. Of course he should have known it wouldn’t be that easy as he felt an arm wrap around his waist pulling him under. They played in the water for a couple hours before Sam started getting tired and hungry and Gabriel snapped them back to the beach where there was a feast waiting for them. 

Sam ate hungrily before collapsing in the hammock. Gabriel just snapped up another hammock and a couple drinks before flopping gracefully in his own hammock and handing Sam a drink. After a few minutes of relaxing, comfortable silence, Sam turned to Gabriel and asked, “Why am I here?”

“Why shouldn’t you be?” Gabriel asked lazily.

“Well it’s just…I’m not complaining, but you didn’t seem to want anything to do with me. Why’d you change your mind?”

Gabriel shrugged. “Does it matter?”

Sam knew an evasive technique when he heard one, and was curious about what Gabriel could be avoiding, but couldn’t seem to think of a reason to give Gabriel why it would matter. “I’m just curious.”

“Curiosity killed the cat Sam-a-lam,” Gabriel teased. Sam realized that he wasn’t going to get an answer so he dropped it for now and they slipped back into the lazy silence.

It was another half hour before Sam spoke again. “You saved that mother and baby.”

“Anyone would have,” was Gabriel’s response. 

“They are the reason you went after the woman?” Sam half-asked. 

“Mmhmm,” Gabriel said lethargically.

“If they had died, would you have killed her?” Sam asked not sure if he wanted to know the answer or not. 

“More judgement Sam?” Gabriel asked tiredly. 

“No. No judgement. Just trying to understand you better,” Sam said hurriedly. 

“No.”

“No?”

“No. I wouldn’t have killed her. She may have been cruel and selfish, but killing them wasn’t her intent, so no she wouldn’t have deserved death,” Gabriel explained.

“Oh,” Sam said thoughtfully. 

“I only kill them when they intentionally kill or permanently harm another person and only when they feel no remorse and will continue to do so if not stopped. That’s it. Understand now?” Gabriel asked in a slightly clipped tone not believing Sam for a moment when he said he wouldn’t judge him. 

“Yeah. I understand,” was all Sam said. After another long silence Sam asked “How do you find these people? Do you just hop into a random town and start poking around?”

“Sometimes. Other times I answer people’s prayers. I’m a rather well known archangel and in addition to being the messenger I’m also known as the archangel of justice and mercy so I get prayed to often by people in these situations.” Gabriel wasn’t sure how much he liked this game and decided to turn it on Sam. “Why do you hunt?”

“Huh?” Sam asked inelegantly not quite keeping up with the change in directions. 

“You want to understand me, fine. But I want to understand you too. So why do you hunt?”

“It’s the family business,” Sam gave him the party line. 

“Bullshit. What’s the real reason?”

Sam sighed. “Because as one of the few people in the world who knows what’s really out there it’s my responsibility to protect the people who can’t protect themselves.”

“You can’t save everyone Sam,” Gabriel pointed out. 

“I know,” he said sadly. “But every person I save makes up in some small way for all the people who have died because of me after all my mistakes. I could never make up for all of it, but maybe I can make up for some. Maybe enough to…” Sam trailed off. 

“Enough to what?” Gabriel prodded.

“I know it’ll never happen but I can’t help but hope that maybe if I can make up for enough it will make me good enough for heaven,” Sam said defeated. 

Gabriel almost dropped his drink at that. Sam thought he was hell bound? The idiot. “Everyone makes mistakes kid. Sure yours have been bigger than most, but your heart was always in the right place. Your intentions were always good. That definitely counts for something.”

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” Sam said morosely. 

“I wish I could strangle the person who came up with that load of crap,” Gabriel said wearily. “Sam. Listen to me. Your soul is as pure as the driven snow. There is no way you will go anywhere but heaven. And even if you were going to, something tells me that Cassie wouldn’t allow it,” Gabriel stated firmly before saying more softly, “And neither would I.”

Sam was silent for a long time after that and Gabriel pretended not to notice the few tears that escaped and he finally said softly, “Thank you Gabriel.” Gabriel smiled warmly. “But that doesn’t mean I still shouldn’t try to make up for as much as I can.”

“But it does give you the right to think about your own wants and needs too,” Gabriel said. 

Once the sun had set, Gabriel made a fire and they roasted hot dogs and marshmallows on the beach. Once they were done Gabriel said, “I suppose I should be getting you back.”

“Yeah. Probably. Just do me a favor and don’t pull me away in the middle of a hunt or anything like that?” 

“Course not Samsquatch,” Gabriel said dismissively. 

“Okay. Thanks Gabriel. I had fun today.”

Gabriel chuckled and gave a theatrical bow. “Happy to be of service.”

Sam was laughing when he reappeared in his chair in the library the same way he had left, except that Dean was sitting next to him now and nearly fell out of his chair in surprise when Sam appeared. 

 

It was only a few days later when Sam saw Gabriel again. He popped into the library while Sam was researching for the hunt they were leaving on in the morning. “Heya Samsquatch. Just wanted to give you a heads up that I’ll be unreachable for a while. Maybe a few weeks. So if you try calling me I won’t get it.”

“Oh. Okay. Everything okay?” Sam asked concerned. He was glad that Gabriel was letting him know at least, but getting right to the point wasn’t exactly the archangel’s specialty. 

“Yeah mostly. My daughter is having a bit of an issue and would appreciate my assistance. Nothing major, but messages don’t really pass to the underworld very well. Terrible reception. You know how it is.”

Sam thought for a moment. Gabriel had a daughter? Underworld? Oh right. Loki. His daughter Hela. Seemed that part of the lore was right at least. “Ok. Well I hope everything works out,” he said sincerely. 

“Thanks Sambo. Catch you later,” Gabriel said as he disappeared. 

 

Sam and Dean returned to the bunker two days later, having successfully salted and burned a particularly violent spirit. Sam hobbled off to his room to go to bed, hoping he would feel better when he woke up as he usually did. Unfortunately, he didn’t. When he hobbled into the kitchen for breakfast Dean looked at him curiously. “Dude, you look like death warmed over.”

“I feel worse. I swear every part of my body is bruised,” Sam groaned as he grabbed some oatmeal. 

“You haven’t bitched this much about a little beating in years. What gives?” Dean asked worriedly.

“I don’t know. Guess I caught it a little harder than I usually do,” Sam said with a shrug and a grimace. It seemed even shrugging hurt. 

It was over a week before Sam felt well enough to take on another hunt, but they couldn’t really find anything that other hunters hadn’t already grabbed up. If there was one good thing about all the near misses the world had had over the years, it was the upswing in available hunters. 

It was about a week after that when Sam found himself falling on his ass in the sand again. “Don’t worry Sam-a-lam. I left Deano a note this time.”

Sam chuckled and picked himself up off the ground. “Thanks Gabe.”

“Gabe?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You have how many nicknames for me? As your friend I’m entitled to give you whatever nickname I see fit,” Sam said haughtily. 

“Ok fine, but Gabe? Couldn’t you come up with something with a little more panache? Like Gabester or Gabemeister or something,” he said wrinkling his nose in distaste. 

“Nope. My nickname, my rules,” he said smugly. Sam was glad for the teasing discourse and the fact that he was sitting in the sand. It made it easier to hide his little problem. He had always been somewhat attracted to the archangel, but Gabriel had changed them into their beach clothes when he arrived and seeing Gabriel standing in front of him like that was doing strange things to his body. Gabriel’s toned body was lit up by the sun behind it making his tanned skin and sandy hair look nearly as golden as his shorts that left nothing at all to the imagination all while looking at him with sparkling amber eyes. It was enough to make anyone lose their composure. Sam was glad he was able to hide it so well during the bantering. 

“Well you just gonna sit there all day?” Gabriel asked playfully as he reached out a hand to help Sam up. 

Once Sam knew he wouldn’t be embarrassing himself by getting up he took Gabriel’s hand and was hauled easily to his feet. “C’mon. I got a surprise for you,” he said as he started walking towards the water. Once they were out far enough a dolphin appeared in front of them. “You ever ridden a dolphin before?” 

Sam gave Gabriel a look that said ‘what do you think’ while saying sarcastically. “Oh sure. Dolphin riding is a great hobby of mine.”

Gabriel laughed and showed Sam how to hold onto the fin and once Sam did, Gabriel did as well threading his fingers with the hunters for better grip as he told Sam. “It can be a bit of a bumpy ride in spots,” Gabriel explained as he wrapped an arm around Sam’s waist pulling them hip to hip and Sam, with nowhere else to put his arm, wrapped it around Gabriel’s waist as well not able to prevent the blush. “Ok. Hold on tight,” Gabriel said before making some sort of sound that Sam recognized as dolphin like and the dolphin took off. 

Sam wondered if he was going to be expected to breathe underwater, but before the need got too urgent they broke the surface and the dolphin arced up before going back under giving Sam enough time to take another breath and he was glad that Gabriel was holding onto him or he would have slid right off. Not that it would have hurt him at all, but it would have been rather undignified. It went on like that, whenever Sam would start to ache from holding his breath they would break the surface in what surely looked like a graceful arc, but didn’t really feel that way. Still, it was pretty fun. 

He had no idea how far they had gone before the dolphin stopped and Gabriel started swimming away so Sam followed him. He didn’t go far before turning to Sam and saying, “You have a choice. I can get you a snorkel or make you able to breathe underwater.”

Sam thought about it for a moment. He did trust Gabriel but he wasn’t sure how uncomfortable it would be to breathe underwater. He decided to give it a shot though and if he didn’t like it he could always ask for a snorkel afterwards, so Gabriel snapped his fingers and dove down and Sam again followed. He instinctively held his breath as long as he could before he was forced to take a breath. It was definitely a weird feeling, but it wasn’t too bad. Nearly as soon as that thought crossed his mind he found himself looking at the most incredible coral reef he could have imagined and he couldn’t help but stop and stare. 

Gabriel stopped next to him, watching him and couldn’t help but feel pleased with himself. The hunter was enraptured. After a few minutes Sam turned to him and asked, “Can I?” while gesturing to the reef. He was surprised at how well the sound carried underwater. 

“Go ahead Samsquatch. If you happen to do any damage I can fix it,” Gabriel said cheerfully and Sam wasted no time in swimming towards the reef and reaching out to run his fingers along the coral. Gabriel reached out with his powers and calmed the various sea creatures inhabiting it so that they wouldn’t disappear, but would still play with him and while Sam was exploring Gabriel chased a few fish and seahorses laughing all the while. Sam occasionally looked back at him fondly during all this. 

Gabriel’s playing tended to get pretty close to where Sam was and it was all well and good until a seahorse got tangled in his hair. Sam instinctively reached up to swat it away, but Gabriel was right there and grabbed his wrists before he could make contact and Sam stopped so Gabriel reached his hands to Sam’s hair and gently untangled the seahorse which then swam away. It wasn’t until the ‘crisis’ had been averted that they realized how close they were. 

Their noses were nearly touching and there were only a few inches between their bodies. Gabriel grinned and winked before he flipped backwards away from the hunter and resumed his chase. Before long Sam had joined him in chasing things, and sometimes each other. When Sam’s stomach started growling Gabriel asked him if he wanted to be snapped back or ride back. Sam grinned and said, “Ride. Definitely. That was fun.”

Gabriel laced his fingers with Sam’s again over the dolphin’s fin and wrapped an arm around his waist holding him tight again as they rode back to the beach. Once they were back and had eaten the meal that Gabriel snapped up, the archangel snapped again and both of them were lying face down on massage tables and two beautiful scantily clad women were walking towards them. “Gabriel?” Sam asked curiously.   
“What? Don’t tell me you wouldn’t enjoy a little massage Sambo,” Gabriel said as the women reached them. Sam tried to ignore the fact that he was naked only a few feet away from an equally naked Gabriel. Granted the important bits were covered by a towel, but that wasn’t the point. While Sam tried to ignore their nakedness, Gabriel was perfectly aware of it, and pleased by it. It wasn’t like he could see anything that the bathing suit didn’t cover, but the whole point was to get Sam to relax. He knew he would never have anything more than friendship from the hunter, but he could make sure that Sam was as comfortable as he could get around him at least. 

Once the massage was over and they were relaxed in their hammocks again Sam asked, “Everything ok with your daughter?”

“Yeah. Some upstart demon is trying to take over the underworld. I think I’ve dissuaded him of the notion, but we’ll see. She’ll call me again if she has any more issues.”

“Why didn’t you just kill him?” Sam inquired. 

“Because Loki doesn’t have that kind of power,” Gabriel pointed out. 

“Oh. Right. So Kali didn’t tell anyone…” Sam left the sentence hanging. 

Gabriel snorted. “I wiped that part of her memory before she even left with you guys. I wasn’t going to give that a chance to get around.”

“Why didn’t you wipe our memories when we found out?” Sam asked curiously. 

“You weren’t really a security risk. Sure you might tell other hunters but you didn’t go palling around with other gods or angels other than Cassie. Besides, her knowing would make her hunt me, you knowing made you stop hunting me so it worked out.”

Sam thought about that for a minute. They could have caused a lot of trouble for him by broadcasting to the other angels that he was alive, so he had shown some measure of trust in them. Sam wisely decided to change the subject rather than point that out though. “So that demon. Do you know what he wanted? Maybe we could help?”

“I don’t know. How could you help? You can’t get into the underworld.”

“Maybe not, but we have a semi-decent working relationship with the king of hell, and if he’s not behind it or aware of it, we may be able to get him to take care of the problem.”

Gabriel reminded himself that when they were hunting him they had been much younger and more idealistic than practical, but it still stung that they would work with the king of hell after trying to hunt their friendly neighborhood trickster. He didn’t betray any of those feelings though and just said, “You would do that?” 

“Of course. If I can help I will,” Sam said surprised that Gabriel would even ask. 

“Thanks Samsquatch. If it comes up, I’ll see if I can’t get some more information.”

 

The next morning Sam and Dean left on another hunt. A werewolf this time. They had split up to search the woods and of course Sam had to be the one to find it. He managed to take it out but not before it beat him up pretty badly. Once they got back to the bunker Sam immediately made for bed and like usual, he was feeling much better the next morning. There was still some bruising and residual soreness, but that was all. A suspicion began percolating in his mind, and he got his chance to test it a few days later when Gabriel once again popped in to tell him he’d be out of contact for a while. “Seems the issue isn’t as resolved as I had hoped. I’ll do some digging and let you know what I find out.”

Sam agreed and Gabriel left. They were leaving on another hunt in the morning and Sam immediately offered to be the distraction. It would hurt like a bitch if he was right, but it would be worth it if he could get an answer to his suspicions and sure enough the morning after the fight he felt like hell. He was fully healed by the time Gabriel pulled him to the beach again. Before Sam could even say anything though Gabriel said cheerily, “I’m gonna teach you how to surf today. C’mon,” as he reached out a hand to pull Sam up from the ground. 

Sam knew how this worked by now. The morning was spent having fun and the afternoon was spent relaxing and talking, so he did his best to keep his thoughts to himself until the appropriate time. He had to admit that Gabriel’s way of having fun and getting in a good mood before any conversations could come up was certainly effective. Made it a lot harder for difficult conversations to become arguments after all. 

After washing up on the beach after Sam’s twentieth or so wipe out, Gabriel glided gracefully onto the beach and stepped off his board before collapsing on the sand next to Sam laughing. Sam couldn’t help but laugh too. After a few minutes Sam couldn’t hold it in anymore though and rolled to his side and propped himself up on his elbow and said, “You’ve been healing me.”

Gabriel copied his position and raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“For years now I’ve been healing super quick from any fights. I had thought that I was just getting tougher and better able to handle a beating, but both times you’ve been gone I’ve gotten hurt and healed the normal slow way.”

“Maybe you just got beat up worse than usual and it was just a coincidence that I was gone at those times,” Gabriel said. He didn’t really want to admit it and wanted to see just how sure the hunter was in his convictions. If he insisted, then Gabriel would have to concede his involvement. 

“Yeah see I considered that, but it doesn’t add up. I’ve been hurt far worse and healed quickly,” Sam said pointedly. 

Gabriel sighed. “Yeah. I’ve been healing you when you got hurt.”

“How long? What else have you done that I don’t know about?” Sam asked firmly. He wasn’t going to let the archangel dodge the questions this time. Then he had a thought. “Those scars. They look fresh and they are black. Are they Amara’s work? I could have sworn that book with the banishing spells wasn’t in the library all along and when we summoned her she seemed weaker than usual and didn’t even put up a fight. Was that you?”

Gabriel could see the determination in Sam’s face and decided to just fess up to all of it. He looked away from Sam and focused his attention on the sand between them. “Yes. It was me. I gave you the spell and made sure she was weak enough that she couldn’t kill you before you managed to banish her.”

“What else have you done for us?” Sam asked softly seeing that Gabriel wasn’t going to fight him about answering. 

“When I was resurrected, about a year after I died, I found out that your soul was still in the cage so I set about convincing Death to retrieve it and put up the wall. When he finally agreed it was only if either you or Dean came to him directly to ask for his help, so I planted the idea in Dean’s mind. When Cassie broke the wall I could have throttled him,” Gabriel reluctantly admitted.

“Everyone was amazed that I wasn’t a drooling vegetable after that…” Sam trailed off. 

“You probably would have been, but I went in and repaired what I could before I ran out of juice. By the time I was recovered enough to try to finish up Cassie had already fixed it.” 

“Anything else?”

“I knew that you wouldn’t be able to find the leviathan tablet so I dropped a few hints for someone to start looking for it and then once it was found I made sure it found its way into your hands. That’s it other than healing you,” Gabriel said still looking at the sand. 

Sam gaped at him for a moment before instinct took over and he leaned forward and pressed his lips to Gabriel’s. Gabriel immediately leaned into the kiss and it lasted a few moments before Sam pulled back dazed. Gabriel followed him for a moment and was left leaning forward, lips still slightly puckered and blinking rapidly a few times before he said stunned, “Sam?”

Sam shifted uncomfortably. “I…I’m sorry Gabriel. I shouldn’t have…I mean…” Sam started to turn like he was going to get up and walk away, but Gabriel grabbed his wrist and Sam stilled. For the life of him Gabriel couldn’t think of what to say, but started rubbing his thumb gently over the back of Sam’s hand. They started at each other for what seemed like forever before Sam leaned forward again and Gabriel met him halfway. 

Gabriel snaked out his tongue to lick Sam’s lips and the hunter opened freely for him as their tongues joined the dance. Sam’s hand found its way to Gabriel’s firm stomach as Gabriel’s hand wound around the back of Sam’s neck and Gabriel fell onto his back on the sand. Sam’s head followed as he leaned over the archangel continuing their kiss. Sam’s hand wandered up Gabriel’s chest and he tentatively ghosted a thumb over one of Gabriel’s nipples pulling a needy whimper from Gabriel. Sam pinched his nipple a little more firmly getting the same reaction as Gabriel’s other hand moved to Sam’s side and rubbed up and around his back. 

Sam began moving his hand back down Gabriel’s stomach, pausing at the waistband of the archangel’s shorts to give him a chance to stop him if he wanted to, but Gabriel didn’t so Sam moved his hand lower still and placed it over the bulge in Gabriel’s shorts. Gabriel bucked up into his hand releasing a breathy moan into Sam’s mouth and pulling one of the same from the hunter before Sam moved himself on top of Gabriel and pressed his hips down so that Gabriel could feel his own erection too as they rubbed together. Gabriel bucked up into him in response and wrapped his arm tightly around the small of Sam’s back pressing him down further. 

Gabriel knew he couldn’t let this go too far. At least not until Sam knew the stakes, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop it just yet. He would if things started getting out of hand though. About that time Sam’s lips moved from Gabriel’s and began kissing along his neck stopping to nibble and suck along the way and Gabriel was quickly coming undone. The archangel moved both of his hands to Sam’s ass as the hunter started rolling his hips grinding them together. 

When Sam latched onto the sweet spot on his neck and began sucking Gabriel said breathlessly, “Mmm Sammy.” His hands slipped under Sam’s shorts and were cupping his bare ass pulling insistently as he writhed beneath the hunter looking for more friction. He knew he had to get them both off like this to keep things from getting out of hand. Sam’s lips found his again as their motions became more desperate and Gabriel could tell that Sam was as close as he was so he risked slipping a finger between Sam’s ass cheeks and teasing it around the hunter’s tight hole pressing lightly and driving Sam crazy. They were both a mass of whimpers in each other’s mouths as they rubbed off frantically against each other before Sam tensed and began trembling as he spilled over. The combination of the pulsing of Sam’s cock and the warm damp spot forming in his shorts pulled Gabriel over the edge with him. 

Sam stilled over the archangel and pulled back slightly out of the kiss looking a little nervous. Gabriel saw that and lifted his head pressing another short chaste kiss to the hunter’s lips with a smile letting him know that it was alright. Once Sam returned his smile and pressed his forehead to Gabriel’s, Gabriel grinned and said cheekily, “I think that was the best ‘thank you’ I’ve ever gotten.”

He hoped that Sam would correct him and tell him that it wasn’t just about thanking him, but didn’t dare let himself expect it. He got his wish though as Sam said softly, “That wasn’t just a thank you.”

“Good,” Gabriel whispered pressing his lips to the hunter’s again in a short but deep kiss that Sam eagerly returned. 

 

Sam stomach started growling so Gabriel chuckled and pushed him gently off and hopped to his feet reaching down a hand to help Sam up. This time though Sam didn’t let go once he was on his feet and just threaded their fingers together as they walked back towards the picnic table Gabriel had set out for them. Once they were finished eating Sam made for what had become his hammock and when Gabriel started towards his own Sam grabbed his wrist and pulled him down on top of him before shifting them so that Gabriel was curled up to his side. Gabriel sighed contentedly and just enjoyed it for a moment before bringing up the big subject they needed to talk about. “There’s something you need to know before this thing goes any farther.”

Sam started getting nervous again as he asked, “What’s that?” 

“For angels, when we sleep with someone it binds us together forever,” Gabriel said apprehensively. 

“So you’re bound to someone already?” Sam asked starting to get upset with the archangel for leading him on like that. 

“NO! No I’m not,” Gabriel hurriedly assured him. 

“But you’ve slept with people. Kali…and you have kids…” Sam said confused. 

Gabriel looked a little sheepish. “I may have lied a little about Kali. I needed a reason to be there after all, but we were never anything more than friends and the kids…well I am an angel. We practically invented immaculate conception. I liked their mother well enough, but not nearly enough to risk being tied to her forever.”

Sam thought about that for a moment before he said sadly, “So you’re saying we can never sleep together.”

“No. I’m saying that I want you to know what you would be getting into if we ever did.”

It took a moment for that to sink in. Was Gabriel seriously saying that he wanted to be bound to him forever? Was Gabriel really a virgin? Gabriel? “So you’ve never…” Sam trailed off. 

“Not with anyone real. When I want to get some I just snap up someone to do the deed with. All form and no substance so no risk of a permanent attachment,” Gabriel said matter-of-factly. 

“Is it different at all…other than the obvious of course?” Sam asked curiously. 

“I didn’t think it was,” Gabriel said softly. 

“But it is?”

“Very,” he said pressing a kiss to Sam’s shoulder. “But maybe that’s just you.” Sam smiled and pulled Gabriel tighter against him and Gabriel thought about the way Sam made him feel. It wasn’t that being with his creations wasn’t good. He had thought it was great, but as soon as Sam’s lips first touched his he could tell the difference. It was like it reached his entire being. He had never realized how cold and empty it had always been until he realized that one chaste kiss from the hunter was more fulfilling than all the sex he had had over the years combined. 

Sam heard what Gabriel didn’t say, but still hoped to get something a little more definitive so he used the opportunity while they were just basking in the moment to consider how to nudge the conversation the right way. After a little while he said, “I’m not ready for forever.”

Gabriel smiled wryly. “I know. That’s why I warned you.”

“Well what about you?” Sam asked in an attempted casual tone. 

Gabriel resisted the urge to roll his eyes. The hunter was so transparent, but if he thought that Gabriel was just going to put himself out there like that he must be crazy. “Tell you what. If the situation ever arises and it’s not what I want I won’t let it go that far,” he said with a note of finality. 

Sam sighed but accepted that it was the best he was going to get and just pressed a kiss to the top of the archangel’s head where it was nestled against his shoulder. “Okay.” They went back to just enjoying the moment as they cuddled up together in the hammock Sam’s hands running all over Gabriel’s back and Gabriel’s hands running over Sam’s chest and stomach. 

Neither spoke for nearly an hour before Sam suddenly remembered something. “What ever happened with your daughter? Did you get any information about the demon?”

Gabriel laughed. “Right. Of course. We kinda got a little sidetracked didn’t we. Well the demon’s name is Brandt and he wants the underworld to use it as a jumping off point to take over hell and depose their current king. I’m sure you can work with that,” he said smugly. 

Sam gave an evil grin. “Oh most definitely.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing though helping the king of hell,” Gabriel said warily. 

“I’m helping you and your daughter and using him to do the dirty work. No matter what we did with this demon it would be helping him. This way he knows it and we have a chip we can call in later,” Sam pointed out. 

Gabriel laughed again. “I like the way your mind works Samshine.”

Sam laughed at the nickname. “Samshine? That’s a new one.”

Gabriel just nestled closer and mumbled, “It’s fitting.”

Before Gabriel sent Sam back to the bunker he reached behind him and then snapped his fingers handing Sam a feather on a necklace. “Is that…” Sam asked in awe. 

“It’s one of my feathers. It’ll help protect you when I’m not around…if you want to wear it.”

“It’s beautiful,” Sam breathed as he slipped it around his neck tucking it under his shirt. “How does it work?”

“Well it will heal you much like I would, but it has its limitations though. Cuts, bruises, maybe even broken bones if it’s a clean break, but anything beyond that like internal injuries or anything and it can’t help, but as long as you’re wearing it I’ll know if you get injured beyond its ability to heal. Also, only you or I can take it off. No one else can even touch it, but they can see it and sense it’s presence so they will know you have an angel looking out for you,” Gabriel said with a smile. 

“But they won’t know which angel?” Sam asked concerned about Gabriel’s identity getting out. 

“Nope. Not unless they’ve seen my feathers up close and the only ones who have are my older brothers who are now out of the picture and Cassie who saw them during the whole tv land incident. I don’t know if you want him and your brother to know about us though,” he said looking down. 

Sam put his hand to the side of Gabriel’s face and lifted his head back up before pressing a soft kiss to the archangel’s lips. “I would tell the whole world if I could,” he whispered as he pulled away. Gabriel grinned and kissed him again, long and deep before snapping his fingers and making Sam appear back in the library in his normal clothes again. 

Sam found his brother in the kitchen eating dinner. Dean held out a burger questioningly and Sam shook his head. “Nah. I ate with Gabriel.”

Dean narrowed his eyes at his brother. There was something different about him. “What’s going on?” he asked suspiciously. 

“Well Gabriel and I are kinda together now,” Sam said nervously not knowing how his brother would take it. 

“What the hell Sam!? Tell me you didn’t sleep with him. Please.”

Sam then realized another implication of Gabriel’s little bombshell and his nerves were overcome by anger. “Why didn’t you tell me that you and Cas were bonded?” he asked accusingly. 

“It didn’t seem important and you didn’t answer my question,” Dean shot back. 

“Didn’t seem important?! Dean you’re essentially married and I didn’t even know!” Dean winced. Yeah when you put it that way he did kinda screw up. “And no I didn’t sleep with Gabriel, but even if I had why should I tell you since it’s not important or anything,” Sam continued heatedly. 

“Yeah ok Sam. I get it. I should have said something. It’s not exactly an easy thing to work into a conversation though,” Dean said sheepishly before turning back to Sam’s issue. “But we’re talking about you and Gabriel here. I mean come on Sam. He’s not exactly the settling down type.”

Sam forced himself not to get too defensive about that. He would have said the same thing until recently so he settled for giving his brother a little insight into the situation. “Did you know he’s been sneaking in and healing me in my sleep ever since he was resurrected. He talked death into retrieving my soul…”

“I thought that was too easy,” Dean muttered to himself.

“He planted the book with how to trap Amara in the library and fought her himself to make sure she was weak enough for us to banish her without getting killed.”

Dean thought about that for a moment. He was still a bit wary about Gabriel’s intentions, but it seemed like he actually cared about Sam so he would let it go for now. At least that was his thought until he noticed the cord around Sam’s neck. “What are you wearing around your neck?” Sam blushed a bit and pulled it out of his shirt so that Dean could see the feather. “He gave you one of his feathers!?” 

“Yeah. Why? What’s the big deal?” Sam asked confused as to why that part would upset Dean so much. 

“I don’t know yet…CAS!” When the angel appeared he looked from Dean to Sam and started when he saw the feather in Sam’s hand. “What does that mean?” Dean asked pointing at it. 

“It’s Gabriel’s,” Cas said tilting his head in confusion. 

“Yeah we know that much. He gave it to Sam. I know there’s a lot of symbolism with angels and their wings. What does it mean?”

“From a practical standpoint it will protect Sam and keep him healed. From an emotional standpoint he has basically declared Sam as his intended,” Cas explained. 

“But there’s nothing binding or anything in it?” Dean asked calming somewhat. 

“No. There is not. It is simply a gesture of intent.” 

Sam beamed at that and Dean sighed. His little brother had it bad and of course it had to be for the most annoying being in existence. He snapped out of it after a moment and decided to ask Cas what he was worried about asking Gabriel for fear of it being taken the wrong way. “Is there anything else I should know about if we bond?”

Cas wondered why Sam didn’t ask Gabriel, but had no problems answering their questions. “You will essentially become immortal. You will still be able to be killed, just not as easily. You will heal quicker. And you will not age or die of natural causes.”

Sam glared at Dean again at that and Dean held up his hands in surrender. He had already admitted that he should have told Sam after all, but Sam just turned back to Cas and thanked him before leaving the room and giving Dean and Cas some time alone. 

 

Once Sam was out of the room he took out his phone and called Crowley who answered the phone with a chipper, “Moose! To what do I owe the pleasure.”

“I got some information about one of your subjects planning a coup. Thought you might be interested,” Sam said smugly. 

“How reliable is this information and how much do you know?” Crowley asked suspiciously.

“Very reliable and I know who it is and how he plans to go about it,” Sam said cryptically. It wouldn’t do to give the information too freely and get the demon even more suspicious. 

“And what do you want in return for this information?” 

“Well seeing as how I’m basically saving your life, how about a to be determined favor. Next time we need your help you come running,” Sam said. Crowley had nothing he wanted at this particular moment, but the demon could definitely be useful down the road. 

“So long as it doesn’t involve my death or losing my throne and so long as your information pans out and is a credible threat and not just some crackpot with a half-baked plan,” Crowley amended. 

“Oh and I also want you to make sure that no one else, including yourself tries what he is,” Sam added. 

That alone convinced Crowley that the information was legit and though he was loathe to made that deal, he could tell by the tone of the hunter’s voice that it was non-negotiable. “Fine.”

“Then we have a deal,” Sam said. “His name is Brandt and he is attempting to take over the underworld and use its power to depose you.”

“And how do you know all this Moose? Something tells me that if he had been in your hands he would already be dead.”

“Let’s just say we have friends in…well…low places. Very reliable friends.”

“I’ll look into it,” Crowley said shortly and hung up. Sam went to bed satisfied. 

Sam was surprised to find himself on the beach again after breakfast the next morning. He greeted Gabriel with a kiss and said, “I didn’t expect to see you again so soon.”

“I figured given the change to our relationship I was entitled to see you more often than every few weeks. You complaining?” Gabriel said with a grin. 

Sam laughed before he pulled Gabriel against him and kissed him on the nose. “Nope.”

“So I thought we’d do something a little different today,” Gabriel said perkily. 

“Like what?” Sam asked warily. 

“How would you like to check out ancient Greece?” 

“Seriously? Like go back in time?” Sam asked in shock.

“Sure. Why not?”

“Isn’t that reckless? What if we do something to screw up the future?”

Gabriel waved a dismissive hand. “Can’t happen. The past is set in stone. Anything that we do we will have already done.”

“So you’re saying that not going would be worse than going?” Sam asked confused.

“No. If we don’t go then we didn’t, but if we do go then we already did so anything we do there we will have already done. See?” Gabriel grinned amused knowing that the hunter didn’t follow a word of that. 

“No,” Sam said shaking his head as if he had a headache.

“Just trust me Samsquatch,” Gabriel said with a chuckle and when Sam gave a tentative nod Gabriel added, “And just a heads up. The past me can sense when I’m time hopping and occasionally pops in to say hi so don’t be too surprise if he does.”

“Wouldn’t you already know if he does?” 

“Nope. I won’t remember until it happens and he’ll forget until I remember,” Gabriel said holding in his laughter. He really loved this game. 

Sam pinched the bridge of his nose. “Remind me to stop asking you questions like that,” he said tiredly. 

“Whatever you say kiddo,” Gabriel said cheerfully before he snapped his fingers and they arrived in ancient Greece. Gabriel suspected that he had met Sam before during a jaunt like this. Maybe even more than once and he was curious to find out what all had been said. He had known from the moment that he met the hunter that he would love him and that he would die for him and he wondered how much of that was instinct and how much was bleed over from a meeting like this. 

Sam looked around at all the people and colors. It seemed that Gabriel landed them in a marketplace of some sort. Gabriel took his hand and threaded their fingers together as they walked around looking at all the different wares for offer. Sam was a little nervous about broadcasting that they were together in this time period, but soon realized that no one cared. He even spotted a few other same sex couples and found himself wondering when exactly it had become such a stigma. Whenever his eye caught something he liked Gabriel noticed and after doing some haggling in languages that Sam couldn’t understand he produced the correct currency for Sam to walk away with the object of his desire. 

There weren’t very many things that Sam had gotten though. He was more interested in soaking up the culture and history that he was seeing on display so casually here. They had been walking around the marketplace for about an hour when suddenly another Gabriel appeared next to them. “Fancy meeting you here,” he said cheerily before he eyed Sam up and down focusing for a moment on their joined hands. 

The future Gabriel grinned at his past self and moved his arm around Sam’s waist to make sure there was no room for confusion. “Just showing Sammy here the sights.” 

Past Gabriel took in a sharp breath when he focused on what was around Sam’s neck. He reached out and fingered the feather gently before breathing out “He knows?”

“I know what?” Sam asked looking at his Gabriel questioningly. 

“Who I really am,” Gabriel said not taking his eyes off his past self. 

“Oh yeah. Of course Ga…” his voice was suddenly cut off and both Gabriel’s were glancing around nervously. Sam gestured for one of them to restore his voice and then said, “Sorry.”

“What say we go somewhere we can talk more freely?” the past Gabriel asked. 

Future Gabriel looked questioningly at Sam who looked interested. Truth was Sam was curious to know what Gabriel was like in this time period and if he had changed much over the centuries. They reappeared in what was surely a luxurious house in this time period though it paled in comparison to anything Sam had previously seen. Sam settled on the couch and his Gabriel immediately curled up to his side as the other Gabriel took a chair. 

Sam absentmindedly played with Gabriel’s hair as the three of them chatted. None of them brought up the future or anything, but it was an amicable time. Sam noticed past Gabriel looking at them jealously and leaned down to nuzzle his Gabriel’s neck while whispering in his ear about it. Gabriel looked at his past self and then back at Sam and nodded so Sam held out his other arm and quirked an eyebrow at past Gabriel who immediately curled up to his other side. 

Seemed that Gabriel had always been cuddly, Sam thought with a smile and wondered which one would kill him first if he pointed it out. Sam felt a little surreal with a Gabriel on each arm, but just moved his other hand to past Gabriel’s hair pulling a sound something like a purr from him. It was a few hours later before Future Gabriel said, “We should be getting back.”

“Yeah okay,” past Gabriel agreed, but he surprised Sam by leaning up and kissing him. Sam’s eyes got wide and he looked to his Gabriel who just gave him an indulgent look so he went with it and kissed the other Gabriel back which drew a needy whimper from him and a hand moved up to Sam’s neck to pull him closer as he opened his mouth and pressed his tongue into Sam’s. Sam’s hand moved to Gabriel’s waist and he rubbed his thumb over the soft skin there, but kept enough pressure to let Gabriel know that this was as far as it would go. 

Past Gabriel seemed to get the hint and when they broke apart for air he looked more than a little dazed. Sam moved his hand to past Gabriel’s cheek and gave him one more short chaste kiss before getting up and going to his Gabriel and they disappeared back to their beach in the present time. Sam couldn’t help but feel a little guilty though and looked at the archangel nervously. “Gabriel…”

“Don’t worry about it Samshine. It was still me, and besides, it’s not like we’ve made any promises to each other” Gabriel said with a smile. 

Gabriel didn’t know that Cas had told him what the feather meant and Sam knew that Gabriel had made promises to him, even if they hadn’t been spoken and he deserved the same. “I’m not really sure yet where this is going, but as long as it is going, I’m yours and only yours Gabriel,” he said softly wrapping his arms around the archangel. He was pretty sure he would end up bonding with him, but needed more time. 

Gabriel smiled at him and just said, “Same.”

Sam smiled back at him and kissed him deeply. He had been more than a little turned on kissing the other Gabriel while he watched after all. When they separated for air Sam asked softly, “So we can’t sleep together, but we can enjoy ourselves in other ways right?”

Gabriel just murmured an agreement and captured Sam’s lips again lowering them to the sand where Sam wasted no time rolling Gabriel underneath him. As usual they had been changed into their beach clothes as soon as they arrived so there were no pesky shirts in the way. Sam knew that all this was new to Gabriel and relished the fact that he was the archangel’s first real partner. He felt like he was starting to understand why some people chose to save themselves until marriage and almost wished that he was still a virgin so that he could be experiencing this for the first time with Gabriel. He realized in that moment just how in love he was with Gabriel and that he wanted nothing more than to be with him forever. Still, that decision wasn’t one to be made in the heat of the moment. He would still take some time to think about it, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t tell the archangel how he felt. 

He pulled his lips away from Gabriel’s and waited until he opened his eyes before he said softly and sincerely, “I love you Gabriel.”

Gabriel’s eyes seemed to search his for a long while before he smiled and said, “I love you too my Samshine.”

Sam lowered his lips back to Gabriel’s and kissed him passionately pouring as much of his feeling as he could into it and Gabriel kissed him back just as desperately. Sam started rolling his hips slowly over Gabriel’s when he moved his lips to Gabriel’s neck. He didn’t stop there though as his lips kept moving downwards ghosting over the archangel’s collarbone before moving to his chest. He flicked his tongue over Gabriel’s nipple making the archangel moan and arch his back as Sam’s hands danced tantalizingly over his sides. 

By the time Sam was kissing and licking down Gabriel’s stomach the archangel knew what was coming next and was greatly looking forward to it. If just kissing the hunter was so much better than anything else he had ever experienced, he couldn’t imagine how much better this could be. Sam continued down, but didn’t remove Gabriel’s shorts at first and just mouthed around his aching erection from outside them driving Gabriel insane. He bucked his hips up and whined breathlessly, “Please Sammy.”

Sam smiled and hooked his thumbs in the sides of Gabriel’s shorts sliding them down before taking Gabriel’s length in his mouth. Gabriel very nearly came already, but managed to hold himself back with a gasp as his hand moved to Sam’s hair. Sam’s head bobbed as his tongue twirled around and his teeth lightly raked the underside of the archangel’s cock as Gabriel moaned and whimpered beneath him. Sam was letting out his own moans and whimpers that were vibrating through Gabriel’s length as well. Gabriel lifted his head and looked down to see Sam’s shorts were around his knees and he was jerking himself off while sucking Gabriel’s cock and Gabriel couldn’t hold back anymore at the sight as he came in Sam’s mouth causing Sam to cum as well as he swallowed Gabriel’s. 

 

Sam and Dean left the next day on another hunt and unfortunately it took almost a week during which Sam didn’t see Gabriel at all. He had asked the archangel not to bother him during a hunt after all, but he wished he had taken that back, at least somewhat. The only reason he didn’t pray to Gabriel was because he was using this time to think and make sure of what he wanted. By the time they returned home from the hunt Sam was decided. He was going to bond with Gabriel, assuming Gabriel wanted to of course. 

Sam was beat up pretty bad from the hunt so he just went to bed. He would talk to Gabriel later. He happened to be sleeping rather fitfully when Gabriel popped in to heal him though and he felt the soft hand against his forehead. As the hand was removed, Sam reached out and grabbed Gabriel’s wrist pulling a startled gasp from the archangel. “You know you don’t have to sneak around to heal me anymore right?” Sam asked lips quirking into a smile and then opened his eyes. 

Gabriel shrugged sheepishly. “Habit.”

 

Sam pulled Gabriel’s arm so that he fell down next to him and gave Gabriel a slow sweet kiss. “I love you Gabe,” he said softly. 

“And I love you my Samshine,” Gabriel said as his hand reached out to run lightly down the side of Sam’s face to his neck before sliding back pulling the hunter into another kiss. Gabriel didn’t think he would ever get used to the feeling of being with the hunter; the way it made all of his nerve endings stand on end and made him feel so warm and loved. 

Sam deepened the kiss and shifted them so that Gabriel was beneath him. Sam knew that talking about it would be hard for Gabriel, so he would just show him what he wanted. He slowly moved his lips to the archangel’s neck while moving his hands to unbutton Gabriel’s shirt. This would be the first time they were starting out fully clothed and Sam relished the idea of getting to undress his angel. 

Gabriel considered just snapping his fingers and removing their clothes, but found that he was enjoying this too much so just slipped his hands around Sam’s back trailing them under his shirt as he rolled his hips up into the hunter. Sam moaned against Gabriel’s neck and popped a button on the archangel’s shirt. Gabriel was an all-powerful archangel. Second only to God himself, but he never felt more powerful than he did when he caused Sam’s careful control to falter. 

Once they were both divested of their shirts Sam moved down licking and nipping at every inch of the archangel’s chest and stomach before slowly removing Gabriel’s pants, not really surprised to see him going commando. Gabriel was in pieces by now, reduced to a mass of whimpers and moans and once Sam had taken him in his mouth he went for it as his hand that he had surreptitiously lubed up began prodding at Gabriel’s entrance. 

Gabriel realized then were this was going and he managed to snap himself out of his daze long enough to grab the hunter’s wrist before it could go any farther. “Sam,” he gasped. Not quite able to form anymore words just yet. 

Sam’s heart sank. Maybe he had misunderstood what Gabriel wanted after all. He pulled his mouth off Gabriel’s cock and, trying to keep his voice even, asked, “Do you want me to stop?”

“You remember what happens if you don’t?” Gabriel asked softly. He didn’t want Sam to forget in the heat of the moment and end up with something he didn’t want. 

“Yeah. I remember,” Sam said. 

Gabriel released his hand, trying to will the tears from his eyes at the thought that the hunter really did want him forever and said, “Then whatever you want my Sammy.”

Sam sighed with relief and moved up to kiss Gabriel deeply while inserting a finger and pressing against the archangel’s prostate. Gabriel’s back arched wrenching his lips away from the hunter’s and cried out, “Gah! Sammy!” as he spilled over the edge. Sam paused for a moment before Gabriel started wriggling his hips and whispered, “Don’t stop Sammy. Please.” Now that he was so close to having forever, he couldn’t stand it if Sam stopped now. 

Sam brought his free hand up to push Gabriel’s sweat slick hair back from his forehead before capturing his lips in another deep kiss. “Never,” he whispered back as his finger started moving again, pressing in and out of the archangel. He moved his mouth down and started licking over Gabriel’s chest and stomach, lapping up as much of Gabriel’s cum as he could as he inserted a second finger and began scissoring them. By the time the third finger entered Gabriel, he was hard again and Sam was having trouble holding himself back any longer. 

Once Gabriel was finally ready, Sam slicked up his cock and lined himself up before stopping and saying, “Last chance to back out,” hoping that Gabriel wouldn’t take him up on it, but needing to be sure that the archangel wanted forever just as much as he did. 

Gabriel smiled at the hunter and just said, “Never,” as he hooked his ankles behind Sam’s ass and pulled him forward impaling himself on Sam’s large cock. The both moaned loudly at the sensation, this being Gabriel’s first time with someone real and Sam’s first time with a man. Sam felt a warm tugging sensation building up within him and slowly started rolling his hips as he leaned down to kiss his lover passionately. 

The tension built between them as did the warm tugging feeling and Gabriel gasped out, “More Sammy…faster…please…” Sam couldn’t help but comply and soon he was thrusting hard and fast and felt his own release nearing. He reached between them and started pulling on Gabriel’s cock, pumping in time with his thrusts as they were both reduced to nothing but moans and whimpers and when Sam exploded in Gabriel, pushing Gabriel over the edge with him it was the most intense orgasm he had ever experienced in his life and he felt that warm tugging feeling snap and when he collapsed on the archangel he found that he could feel emotions that weren’t his own and he smiled when he realized that he was feeling what Gabriel did. He was nearly overwhelmed with the raw love and devotion he felt coming from Gabriel and just buried his face in Gabriel’s neck so that the archangel wouldn’t see his tears. 

Gabriel was having just as much difficulty controlling his emotions as Sam was, because he too could feel the pure love and devotion from his hunter and he wrapped his arms tightly around Sam like he would never let go as tears of happiness fell from his own eyes.


End file.
